Takamura planted the boxing seed inside Ippo Makunouchi’s mind, but Ichiro Miyata is the one that drove Ippo to pursue the sport passionately. Miyata and Ippo developed the star-crossed rivalry that runs through many shonen and sports anime. George Morikawa establishes early on in Hajime no Ippo that Miyata and Ippo would have a professional fight. The initial spars between Miyata and Ippo affected both individuals deeply. The outcomes pushed Miyata to take his training more seriously and Ippo to pursue professional boxing.
Morikawa continues to elevate the importance of this fated rivalry through the Rookie King Tournament. Miyata loses in the Semi-Finals, subverting the expected route to a Finals bout with Ippo, but that creates the opportunity for this fated bout to take place in a larger arena when both boxers have refined their skills. Unfortunately, after the Tournament ends, every aspect of the Ippo and Miyata rivalry begins to fall apart.
When Miyata leaves Japan to train overseas, it opens the door for him to come back stronger after seeing successes in the featherweight division of different boxing organizations than Ippo. Separating Ippo and Miyata hints at the common trend in fictional rivalries where both members pursue similar goals on separate fronts before coming to their conflict with a display of their new skills. However, the distance between Miyata and Ippo grows and impacts their rivalry, diminishing it due to neglecting to add fuel to the fire.
After the Rookie King Tournament, Miyata’s role in the story should have shifted away from Ippo and toward his success. His journey and successes are occasionally displayed onscreen, but he continues to drive home that Ippo is his end goal. Minimizing Miyata’s appearances is expected to allow the rivalry to breathe and further evolve. However, these moments become so few and far between and do not involve enough direct interaction with Ippo, significantly hurting their relationship.
It is easy to see the impact of rivals’ onscreen presence through Ippo’s other critical opposition, Takeshi Sendo. Even the final boss for the featherweights, Ricardo Martinez, has taken on a more significant role as an endgame rival for Ippo. Martinez’s upcoming bouts with Wally and Sendo — two of Ippo’s most formidable challengers — continue to establish him as the true final boss for Ippo and the other featherweights. It is also heavily hinted that Ippo should dethrone Martinez when fellow featherweight Eiji Date passes his will onto Ippo after losing to Martinez.
Miyata’s victories and bouts are brilliant. But, his journey loses its weight due to his constant obsession with Ippo. Had Morikawa entirely separated Miyata and Ippo’s paths to set them up as dual protagonists and not rivals, their shared narrative may carry more potency. He could also have brought Miyata back into the gym, adding a much-needed straight man back into the crew.
Having Miyata adjust his weight to a more natural class would allow him to rejoin the gym without worrying about competing with Ippo. It also highlights a detriment in their eventual bout: Miyata would not be at his highest potential because he would be fighting outside his natural weight class, lacking stamina and strength. If Ippo and Miyata are star-crossed rivals, their final bout should allow both to be in their best condition to elevate the overall impact of the fight and its outcome.
The path to Ippo and Miyata’s fated boxing match is unclear. Miyata is gaining victory after victory with his title defenses without directly showing interest in returning to Japan or competing on the world scale versus Martinez. Ippo’s path back to boxing is also unclear, as he is thriving as a second and trying to help his gym mates and rivals. Miyata’s lack of proper presence negates his role as he has become such an absentee rival.
It would carry more weight if Morikawa created ongoing tense moments to fuel a final conflict between Miyata and Ippo, similar to the Sasuke/Naruto or Kageyama/Hinata rivalries. As it stands, Miyata has been demoted to second or third-string rival at best. But, there is still potential for Miyata and Ippo’s rivalry to have some sense of payoff. If Morikawa once again subverts expectations by mirroring their rivalry to that of Kamogawa and Nekota.
If Miyata were to face off against Martinez with the hopes of obtaining the top ranking in his and Ippo’s weight class and being forced into retirement, it would allow for Ippo to defend the honor of all his rivals. Having Ippo defeat Martinez through the shared strength of his former opponents would create proper closure for his boxing career. Mirroring their coach’s path and sharing a will to overcome an unmovable force would offer a sense of catharsis to the strained Ippo-Miyata rivalry.